This is an alternative ending story for Jeff and Hilary's cliffhanger...in other words, I've kept some facts, disregarded others, and added my own.
Remember WENN, Jeff and Hilary belong to Rupert Holmes and Howard Meltzer Productions. Oh, and that second rate cable company.
Thanks, Biz, for editing the story and for your very helpful suggestions.
Hilary New Beau
By Dani Calderwood
Hilary sat in the corner booth at the Buttery reading the Washington Post.
"Excuse me, miss, would you mind if I sat with you? Every other seat is taken."
Hilary looked up to find herself staring into the deepest green eyes she'd seen in a long time. They vaguely reminded her of someone else's, but she couldn't put her finger on who that was. "If you don't think me rude if I continue reading?"
"Of course not," he said, and took a seat. Picking up the menu, he asked "What would you recommend?"
"That you eat someplace else," Hilary replied. When the gentlemen laughed Hilary noted that his face crinkled around his eyes. She felt immediately attracted to him but couldn't figure out why.
"Hello. My name is Rick," he said, still smiling at her.
"Hello, I'm pleased to meet you," she said, returning the smile.
"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine," he said. His voice tickled in her ears. For the next half an hour the pair got to know each other better.
"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt," the waitress said, "but Gertie just called and asked if you were planning on returning to work, or should they come up with a plan B?"
"I lost track of time...don't know how that could have happened," Hilary said, glancing at Rick. "I'd better be going before they send out a rescue party. Thank you for the best time I've had in a very long time." Hilary stood to walk past him.
"We can't let it end here. Can I see you again?"
"I do not...I'm, well I'm kind of married," she replied. "Kind of?" he questioned.
"I was married to a moronic imbecile who wants to try again." A faint trace of sadness passed over her face.
"Well, hopefully for me he's too late," he said.
Hilary was surprised to feel herself blush at his comment. He made her feel so alive. It was nice to feel attractive again. "I work some bizarre hours," Hilary said and searched her purse for a pen and paper. She scribbled down her home number, "But you can try reaching me at home after eleven most nights."
"Should I ask what your profession is?" he said, eyebrow raised.
"Let's just say I entertain many." She grinned as he chuckled.
"Hey! I don't know your name," he called after her.
She turned and said with a smile. "You will if you call." Then she slipped through the door into the cool October air.
Hilary walked back to the station humming. She strolled through the front door and ran smack into Gertie.
"Hilary, decided to fit us into your busy schedule?" Gertie said with a mock bow.
"Gertrude Reece, even you can't get under my skin on this beautiful day, so don't even try." Hilary smiled at the receptionist as she walked past her.
"Hello, Betty, yes I know I'm late. Yes, I know that programs can't be held because of my schedule. I am truly sorry. But if we keep chatting here in the hallway I will never get on air and you will be even angrier with me so I must take my leave. Let's do this again soon, shall we?" Hilary flung open the doors to the studio as Betty stood dumbstruck.
********
"Jeff you okay?" Maple asked.
"Yes, just a little nervous," Jeff said. "My dad is coming for a visit. I haven't seen him since him in quite a while," Jeff explained. "I was hoping Hilary would be here to meet him, but she said she was expecting a call at home.
"Jeff, you have a visitor." Gertie ushered a distinguished looking older gentleman into the green room.
"Dad! How are you?" Jeff said, stiffly extending his hand.
"I'm great, now that I've seen you again," he said, pulling Jeff into a hug.
"Maple, I'd like you to meet my dad, Frederick Singer. Dad, this is Miss Maple LaMarsh."
"How do you do?" Maple asked. Jeff's dad certainly had a chemical effect on Maple. So much so that she felt compelled to ask "Jeff, your mom couldn't make it?"
"No!" Jeff snapped.
"Jeff's mother, Michelle, and I have been divorced for a number of years," Frederick provided. "It was hard on all of us."
"Why I don't I leave you two alone?" Maple said, feeling the sudden need to be anywhere else.
"Good night," Jeff said.
"It was nice meeting you. I hope I will have the pleasure another time," Frederick said.
"I hope so too," Maple gushed.
"So, Dad, what brings you to Pittsburgh?" Jeff asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had settled in the room.
"I have a son I was eager to see," Frederick responded. Hurt tinged his voice.
"I didn't mean to imply...." Jeff pulled out the chair and sat down hard. "It's just that I haven't heard from you in years and suddenly here you are."
"I wasn't the one who refused to talk," Frederick said. "You shut me out."
"I was eleven. One day, we were a family and the next, you were nowhere to be found," Jeff said angrily.
"I know, Jeff, I know how much the divorce hurt you." Frederick laid his hand on his son's shoulder.
"How?" Jeff asked. "You weren't there for me or Mama. She was devastated when you left."
"And you never forgave me for hurting her." Sitting down next Jeff, his father said quietly "I didn't know what else to do. We were always arguing. You and your brother never smiled or laughed anymore."
"So you disappeared from our lives and that was supposed to make us happy?" Jeff took a deep breath. "Why are you here now?"
"To see if it's not to late for us to at least be friends. Jeff, you are my youngest son, and I do love you," Frederick answered.
"I...I wish you could have met Hilary tonight. Hopefully you can before you leave." Jeff stood and walked across to the counter. "Want a cup of coffee?"
"No thanks," Frederick replied. "This Hilary of yours is supposed to be something and a half. At least according to Michelle."
"Mama? When did you speak to her?" Jeff asked, astonished. His parents hadn't, to his knowledge, spoken since his brother's sixteenth birthday party.
"Yes, we spoke." Frederick chuckled, remembering the same party. He recalled being hit in face with the birthday cake.
"How would you like to go to dinner?" Jeff sheepishly asked.
"I'd like that. Just not to that restaurant downstairs. I ate there this afternoon and it's, it's...."
"Inedible, yes, I know, but it's close and cheap," Jeff said. "Come on, I know a great hamburger joint that serves the best chocolate cake."
"Oh, do you think they'd have pumpkin pie?" Frederick asked as he walked through the green room doors that Jeff held open for him.
Jeff laughed at his father's remark. "Yes, they have pumpkin pie. That's Hilary's favorite dessert. She always says they serve it just the way she likes it...she likes her pumpkin pie with lots of whip cream." Frederick wondered about the strange smile that crossed his son's face, but didn't want to risk questioning him. He was just grateful for some time with Jeff.
"This has been a wonderful meal," Frederick said after finishing his second piece of pie.
"Glad you enjoyed it," Jeff said with a smile. "Let me go pay the check and we can get going. I'd offer you a place to stay, but I'm staying with friendsas it is. We can share a taxi, though."
"Jeff, why don't you have a car?" his dad asked him.
"I don't know how to drive," he admitted.
"Well, maybe I could teach you," Frederick offered.
"Thanks, but I'm not a teenager anymore. I get along just fine." Jeff got up from the booth. "Let me go pay the check."
"Ok, I have a call to make," Frederick said. "I'll meet you outside?"
"Fine." Jeff walked over to the cashier.
"Hello," Hilary said, hoping it didn't appear like she answered the phone too quickly.
"Hello, this is Rick from the Buttery."
"How nice to hear from you again," Hilary said, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Nice hearing your beautiful voice too," Frederick replied. "I was hoping, if you aren't busy, that we could have lunch tomorrow."
"That would be great, um, I meant I'd enjoy that." Hilary felt like a schoolgirl again. It had been along time since she felt this way.
"Good, I just found a little place. Chubby's on..."
"On 12th and Pine, yes I know the place. It's one of my favorites," Hilary said.
"A woman of taste as well as beauty," Rick said, noticing Jeff out on the sidewalk checking his watch. He hurried the call along. "What time?"
"11:30. I know it's early, but it's really the only time I have free."
"See you then." Before he hung up the phone he remembered "You promised to tell me your name."
"You . . . you can call me Elizabeth Danvers," Hilary said, wondering why she felt the need to make up a name.
"Jeff is your dad going to visit the station again?" Maple said as she sat on the couch in the green room.
"With my dad, it's hard to tell," Jeff replied. "I was hoping to have lunch with him, but he's going out with the new woman he's met."
"Is it serious?" The sound of disappointment tinted Maple's voice.
"I think so." Jeff poured up a cup himself a cup of coffee and held up the pot to Maple, who indicated she didn't want any. Sitting down at the table he continued. "He doesn't talk to me much about her. All I know is her name is Beth and I think she's the reason Dad has stayed in Pittsburgh."
"I think you may have had something to do with it," Maple said.
"Yeah, we are getting along better, but I don't think I'm the reason he's been here an extra week or why he is suddenly thinking of moving here," Jeff said.
"How does he and Hilary get along?" Maple asked, wondering what Jeff's dad would think of Miss Hilary Booth.
"They don't," Jeff replied.
"They don't like each other?" Maple smirked, not at all surprised that Frederick wouldn't care for Hilary's snooty attitude.
"No, I mean they still haven't met," Jeff said with a rather sad expression. "Every time I try and plan a meeting, something comes up. Either with Dad and his Beth or, or Hilary and whoever she's seeing."
"Jeff, you know Hilary and I don't get along, but I do know that you're the guy for her." Maple got up and placed a comforting hand on Jeff's shoulders.
"I'm beginning to doubt that Maple," he admitted. "Hilary has been so happy since she's been seeing him."
"Well, you know that Gertie thinks Hilary is making this all up to get under your skin," Maple said, hoping to cheer him up a little.
"No, Maple, it's for real." Jeff played with the rim of his coffee cup, tracing it with his forefinger.
"Hello," Hilary said as she came through the green room doors. "Isn't it a gorgeous day?"
"You're very chipper today," Jeff remarked.
"Yes, you are, Hilary." Maple walked closer to the other woman and whispered. "So, you've finally figured a way to get Hansel in that oven."
"Maple, you are so you today," Hilary said through a smile. "But I do believe you are about to be late for the air. That is a benefit reserved for genuine actors."
"Hilary," Jeff admonished.
"Sorry," Hilary said unconvincingly. "I'm sure Maple has had many scares with being late."
"Hilary, remember that I always repay my debts." Maple looked at her with an icy glare. "I'll see you later, Jeff. Tell that father of yours not to be a stranger."
"Hilary, why can't you be nice to Maple?" Jeff asked.
"It would be nice if you jumped to my defense as readily as you do Maple's," Hilary said.
Taking a deep breath Jeff asked "Are you free for dinner tonight?"
"No, I'm sorry, but I have plans," Hilary responded.
"Plans, of course. I don't know why I bother asking anymore." Jeff got up from the chair and slammed it back under the table. "I would like you to meet my dad before he leaves."
"I want to meet him too," Hilary said.
"But not enough to break a date with Mr. Wonderful," Jeff countered.
"Even though it's none of your business, I am going out with Eugenia," Hilary said somewhat angrily.
"Eugenia?" Jeff repeated back.
"Yes, Eugenia. We are going to a concert, then dinner, if that's ok with you," Hilary snapped.
"Since you're not free for dinner, how about lunch?" Jeff asked hopefully.
"I can't do that either. I've got . . ."
"Plans. If you ever have room on your dance card, please let me know." Jeff started for the doors, but Hilary called to him.
"Jeff, Jeffrey Singer!" She called.
"What?" he said abruptly as he turned to look at her.
"Would you like to have dinner tomorrow night?" she inquired tentatively.
"I don't need pity," Jeff replied.
"Jeff, please. We need to talk," Hilary said.
"OK," Jeff said before leaving.
"Hilary, you aren't eating," Eugenia said as she noticed that Hilary was just moving the food around her plate.
"I have a decision to make and I'm not sure of what it should be," Hilary acknowledged.
"What decision?" Eugenia asked.
"Rick has asked me to marry him," Hilary said. "I don't know what to do."
"What about Jeff?" Eugenia couldn't imagine Jeff or Hilary with anybody else. "He loves you so much, Hilary. And despite your protestations to the contrary, I think you love him, too."
"I do Eugenia, but I don't know if I can ever trust him again," she admitted. "If I open up to him again and he decides that someone or some cause is more important . . . I couldn't survive that again."
"And what about Rick, how do you feel about him?" Eugenia laid down her fork, having suddenly lost her appetite.
"I don't know. There is something about him that has touched me in a way only Je..." Hilary sighed.
"Does he have any family?" Eugenia asked, realizing that she didn't know much about Hilary's new beau.
"He is divorced with two sons. I haven't meet either of them," Hilary admitted.
"Two sons? How old are they?" Eugenia couldn't picture Hilary with children, especially ones that weren't her own.
"I think they're teenagers. Rick was trying to talk the youngest one into letting him teach him to drive," Hilary said.
"Hilary, can you really see yourself as any man's wife other than Jeff's?" Eugenia asked.
Hilary shook her head slightly. "I'm not sure of how to get back to what we had," she said quietly. "It's like there is a huge valley separating us and no matter how loud we shout, we can't hear each other."
"You have to keep shouting, Hilary. It's worth it," Eugenia counseled. "And you've got to stop seeing Rick."
"You're right." Hilary smiled slightly. "But first I have to give Jeff a bite of the hair from the dog that bit me."
Eugenia didn't know how to respond, so she followed Hilary's lead and finished her meal.
"Hello, Rick. I can't stay long," Hilary said as she sat down in the chair opposite Rick. "Work has been a madhouse since Pearl Harbor."
"I know I have to get back to Detroit. The company I work for is..." Realizing he couldn't say more on the nature of his work, he took her hand. "You don't know how good it is to see some beauty among all this chaos."
Hilary smiled at him. If only she had met him at another time and place.
"Beth, I've asked you to marry me and I've given you the time you've asked for, but I really can't extend my stay any longer..."
"Rick, you are a wonderful man. I wish with all my heart that I could say yes, but my heart belongs to someone else," Hilary replied.
"I see," Rick's face fell. "Not the answer I was hoping for," he admitted. "Can we at least exchange real names? I would like to keep in touch."
"We won't. I like the idea that there is a mysterious man named Rick Gable out there." Hilary looked into his eyes. "And this way I will always be your Beth."
"Then this is good-bye?" Rick asked.
"Yes, good-bye and God speed." Hilary choked up slightly.
"Are you sure this is what you want, Beth?" he inquired. "You haven't said much about the other man in your life, and there is, at times, a sadness in your eyes when you talk about him." He took her hand in his. "I could never cause you sadness."
"No, you couldn't," Hilary admitted, taking her hand out of his. "Only he can, because it's him that I love." Hilary left the chair and walked out of the restaurant, refusing to look behind her.